Best answer

Zap gets email error but there's nothing in the Task History

  • 18 January 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 344 views

Userlevel 1

I have a couple of Zaps that simply monitor for an RSS feed and repost its entries elsewhere.

From time to time the Zaps email that there was an error, for example:

We ran into a problem with one of your Zaps …

Error Message:

    RSS: The app returned "500 - Internal Server Error".

When I look into the Task History there are only Success status runs of the Zaps.

Ideally I’d like to see the error and the raw response from the RSS server. I expect that in the Task History.  How can I get that stuff in the history or somewhere else?

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Best answer by nicksimard 28 January 2021, 01:47

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6 replies

Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Sadly this happens. Its normal. APIs do these things - google sheet runs 1-5 times a day into 500 error or 406.

Userlevel 1

Thank you @Wemakefuture.

The RSS service being flaky is irritating, but I’m surprised that the error in email is not reflected in the Task History. Do you know a way to make the errors show up there?

 

Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Well you can call the API directly via Postman and see what it shows. (This goes a bit deeper into IT)

 

But usually a 500 doesn't show much. Try getting 200.

Userlevel 1

Thank you again but I’m OK with investigating web service behaviour using tools outside Zapier.

I’m interested here in why these errors show up only in email and not the Task History. I’d like to see all errors show up in the history.

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hi @AST!

I can clarify what’s happening there :)

By definition, if the error was with the trigger then there is no history to display because the Zap did not actually run. That’s why you wouldn’t see it with the rest of your Zap runs.

So with something like…

RSS: The app returned "500 - Internal Server Error

… we’re saying “hey, there was a problem with your Zap...we tried to trigger and ran into a problem.”

I do like the idea of having somewhere within your account that you could see those errors as well. I've added your feedback to our internal tracking system/wish list so that our team can consider it when making improvements/changes to Zapier. 

Thanks again for the feedback! Many new features and improvements come about from our users' suggestions.

Userlevel 1

Thank you. I appreciate that. Here’s a couple more thoughts that might be useful in your ticket.

The distinction between run and trigger is not particularly relevant to me when I’m interested in understanding why a Zap I set up did not do what I expected.

Having the whole history of a Zap in one place helps me to see patterns more easily. If I was managing a lot of Zaps I think I’d want to be able to download the history as CSV or similar to help me mine that data and see patterns that are hidden when looking at emails or clicking through single items in a list.

FWIW, when I see “Zap runs” as a tab in the Task History it’s not obvious to me that it doesn’t include the trigger because “Zap” appears to include the trigger elsewhere:

  • When I’m defining a Zap, I define a trigger and an action.
  • When I click on a Zap in the Zaps page I’m shown both a trigger and action.